Drug utilization analysis of osteoporosis medications in seven European electronic health databases.

We studied the characteristics of patients prescribed osteoporosis medication and patterns of use in European databases. Patients were mostly female, older, had hypertension. There was suboptimal persistence particularly for oral medications. Our findings would be useful to healthcare providers to focus their resources on improving persistence to specific osteoporosis treatments. PURPOSE: To characterise the patients prescribed osteoporosis therapy and describe the drug utilization patterns. METHODS: We investigated the treatment patterns of bisphosphonates, denosumab, teriparatide, and selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) in seven European databases in the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Spain, and Germany. In this cohort study, we included adults aged ≥ 18 years, with ≥ 1 year of registration in the respective databases, who were new users of the osteoporosis medications. The study period was between 01 January 2018 to 31 January 2022. RESULTS: Overall, patients were most commonly initiated on alendronate. Persistence decreased over time across all medications and databases, ranging from 52-73% at 6 months to 29-53% at 12 months for alendronate. For other oral bisphosphonates, the proportion of persistent users was 50-66% at 6 months and decreased to 30-44% at 12 months. For SERMs, the proportion of persistent users at 6 months was 40-73% and decreased to 25-59% at 12 months. For parenteral treatment groups, the proportions of persistence with denosumab were 50-85% (6 month), 30-63% (12 month) and with teriparatide 40-75% (6 month) decreasing to 21-54% (12 month). Switching occurred most frequently in the alendronate group (2.8-5.8%) and in the teriparatide group (7.1-14%). Switching typically occurred in the first 6 months and decreased over time. Patients in the alendronate group most often switched to other oral or intravenous bisphosphonates and denosumab. CONCLUSION: Our results show suboptimal persistence to medications that varied across different databases and treatment switching was relatively rare.

Cancer and the risk of coronavirus disease 2019 diagnosis, hospitalisation and death: A population-based multistate cohort study including 4 618 377 adults in Catalonia, Spain.

The relationship between cancer and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection and severity remains poorly understood. We conducted a population-based cohort study between 1 March and 6 May 2020 describing the associations between cancer and risk of COVID-19 diagnosis, hospitalisation and COVID-19-related death. Data were obtained from the Information System for Research in Primary Care (SIDIAP) database, including primary care electronic health records from ~80% of the population in Catalonia, Spain. Cancer was defined as any primary invasive malignancy excluding non-melanoma skin cancer. We estimated adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) for the risk of COVID-19 (outpatient) clinical diagnosis, hospitalisation (with or without a prior COVID-19 diagnosis) and COVID-19-related death using Cox proportional hazard regressions. Models were estimated for the overall cancer population and by years since cancer diagnosis (<1 year, 1-5 years and ≥5 years), sex, age and cancer type; and adjusted for age, sex, smoking status, deprivation and comorbidities. We included 4 618 377 adults, of which 260 667 (5.6%) had a history of cancer. A total of 98 951 individuals (5.5% with cancer) were diagnosed, and 6355 (16.4% with cancer) were directly hospitalised with COVID-19. Of those diagnosed, 6851 were subsequently hospitalised (10.7% with cancer), and 3227 died without being hospitalised (18.5% with cancer). Among those hospitalised, 1963 (22.5% with cancer) died. Cancer was associated with an increased risk of COVID-19 diagnosis (aHR: 1.08; 95% confidence interval [1.05-1.11]), direct COVID-19 hospitalisation (1.33 [1.24-1.43]) and death following hospitalisation (1.12 [1.01-1.25]). These associations were stronger for patients recently diagnosed with cancer, aged <70 years, and with haematological cancers. These patients should be prioritised in COVID-19 vaccination campaigns and continued non-pharmaceutical interventions.

Association of environmental and socioeconomic indicators with serious mental illness diagnoses identified from general practitioner practice data in England: A spatial Bayesian modelling study.

BACKGROUND: The evidence is sparse regarding the associations between serious mental illnesses (SMIs) prevalence and environmental factors in adulthood as well as the geographic distribution and variability of these associations. In this study, we evaluated the association between availability and proximity of green and blue space with SMI prevalence in England as a whole and in its major conurbations (Greater London, Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester, Leeds, and Newcastle). METHODS AND FINDINGS: We carried out a retrospective analysis of routinely collected adult population (≥18 years) data at General Practitioner Practice (GPP) level. We used data from the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) on the prevalence of a diagnosis of SMI (schizophrenia, bipolar affective disorder and other psychoses, and other patients on lithium therapy) at the level of GPP over the financial year April 2014 to March 2018. The number of GPPs included ranged between 7,492 (April 2017 to March 2018) to 7,997 (April 2014 to March 2015) and the number of patients ranged from 56,413,719 (April 2014 to March 2015) to 58,270,354 (April 2017 to March 2018). Data at GPP level were converted to the geographic hierarchy unit Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA) level for analysis. LSOAs are a geographic unit for reporting small area statistics and have an average population of around 1,500 people. We employed a Bayesian spatial regression model to explore the association of SMI prevalence in England and its major conurbations (greater London, Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester, Leeds, and Newcastle) with environmental characteristics (green and blue space, flood risk areas, and air and noise pollution) and socioeconomic characteristics (age, ethnicity, and index of multiple deprivation (IMD)). We incorporated spatial random effects in our modelling to account for variation at multiple scales. Across England, the environmental characteristics associated with higher SMI prevalence at LSOA level were distance to public green space with a lake (prevalence ratio [95% credible interval]): 1.002 [1.001 to 1.003]), annual mean concentration of PM2.5 (1.014 [1.01 to 1.019]), and closeness to roads with noise levels above 75 dB (0.993 [0.992 to 0.995]). Higher SMI prevalence was also associated with a higher percentage of people above 24 years old (1.002 [1.002 to 1.003]), a higher percentage of ethnic minorities (1.002 [1.001 to 1.002]), and more deprived areas. Mean SMI prevalence at LSOA level in major conurbations mirrored the national associations with a few exceptions. In Birmingham, higher average SMI prevalence at LSOA level was positively associated with proximity to an urban green space with a lake (0.992 [0.99 to 0.998]). In Liverpool and Manchester, lower SMI prevalence was positively associated with road traffic noise ≥75 dB (1.012 [1.003 to 1.022]). In Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester, there was a positive association of SMI prevalence with distance to flood zone 3 (land within flood zone 3 has ≥1% chance of flooding annually from rivers or ≥0.5% chance of flooding annually from the sea, when flood defences are ignored): Birmingham: 1.012 [1.000 to 1.023]; Liverpool and Manchester: 1.016 [1.006 to 1.026]. In contrast, in Leeds, there was a negative association between SMI prevalence and distance to flood zone 3 (0.959 [0.944 to 0.975]). A limitation of this study was because we used a cross-sectional approach, we are unable to make causal inferences about our findings or investigate the temporal relationship between outcome and risk factors. Another limitation was that individuals who are exclusively treated under specialist mental health care and not seen in primary care at all were not included in this analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides further evidence on the significance of socioeconomic associations in patterns of SMI but emphasises the additional importance of considering environmental characteristics alongside socioeconomic variables in understanding these patterns. In this study, we did not observe a significant association between green space and SMI prevalence, but we did identify an apparent association between green spaces with a lake and SMI prevalence. Deprivation, higher concentrations of air pollution, and higher proportion of ethnic minorities were associated with higher SMI prevalence, supporting a social-ecological approach to public health prevention. It also provides evidence of the significance of spatial analysis in revealing the importance of place and context in influencing area-based patterns of SMI.

Seek COVER: using a disease proxy to rapidly develop and validate a personalized risk calculator for COVID-19 outcomes in an international network.

BACKGROUND: We investigated whether we could use influenza data to develop prediction models for COVID-19 to increase the speed at which prediction models can reliably be developed and validated early in a pandemic. We developed COVID-19 Estimated Risk (COVER) scores that quantify a patient's risk of hospital admission with pneumonia (COVER-H), hospitalization with pneumonia requiring intensive services or death (COVER-I), or fatality (COVER-F) in the 30-days following COVID-19 diagnosis using historical data from patients with influenza or flu-like symptoms and tested this in COVID-19 patients. METHODS: We analyzed a federated network of electronic medical records and administrative claims data from 14 data sources and 6 countries containing data collected on or before 4/27/2020. We used a 2-step process to develop 3 scores using historical data from patients with influenza or flu-like symptoms any time prior to 2020. The first step was to create a data-driven model using LASSO regularized logistic regression, the covariates of which were used to develop aggregate covariates for the second step where the COVER scores were developed using a smaller set of features. These 3 COVER scores were then externally validated on patients with 1) influenza or flu-like symptoms and 2) confirmed or suspected COVID-19 diagnosis across 5 databases from South Korea, Spain, and the United States. Outcomes included i) hospitalization with pneumonia, ii) hospitalization with pneumonia requiring intensive services or death, and iii) death in the 30 days after index date. RESULTS: Overall, 44,507 COVID-19 patients were included for model validation. We identified 7 predictors (history of cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, kidney disease) which combined with age and sex discriminated which patients would experience any of our three outcomes. The models achieved good performance in influenza and COVID-19 cohorts. For COVID-19 the AUC ranges were, COVER-H: 0.69-0.81, COVER-I: 0.73-0.91, and COVER-F: 0.72-0.90. Calibration varied across the validations with some of the COVID-19 validations being less well calibrated than the influenza validations. CONCLUSIONS: This research demonstrated the utility of using a proxy disease to develop a prediction model. The 3 COVER models with 9-predictors that were developed using influenza data perform well for COVID-19 patients for predicting hospitalization, intensive services, and fatality. The scores showed good discriminatory performance which transferred well to the COVID-19 population. There was some miscalibration in the COVID-19 validations, which is potentially due to the difference in symptom severity between the two diseases. A possible solution for this is to recalibrate the models in each location before use.

The long-run effects of diagnosis related group payment on hospital lengths of stay in a publicly funded health care system: Evidence from 15 years of micro data.

Diagnosis Related Group (DRG) payment systems are a common means of paying for hospital services. They reward greater activity and therefore potentially encourage more rapid treatment. This paper uses 15 years of administrative data to examine the impact of a DRG system introduced in England on hospital lengths of stay. We utilize different econometric models, exploiting within and cross jurisdiction variation, to identify policy effects, finding that the reduction of lengths of stay was greater than previously estimated and grew over time. This constitutes new and important evidence of the ability of financing reform to generate substantial and persistent change in healthcare delivery.

Air pollution and green spaces in relation to breast cancer risk among pre and postmenopausal women: A mega cohort from Catalonia.

BACKGROUND: The association between air pollution and green spaces with breast cancer risk stratified by menopausal status has not been frequently investigated despite its importance given the different impact of risk factors on breast cancer risk depending on menopausal status. OBJECTIVES: To study the association between air pollution, green spaces and pre and postmenopausal breast cancer risk. METHODS: We conducted a population-based cohort study using electronic primary care records in Catalonia. We included women aged 17-85 years free of cancer at study entry between 2009 and 2017. Our exposures were particulate matter <2.5 µm (PM2.5) & <10 µm (PM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), and percentage of green spaces estimated at the census tract level. Breast cancer was identified with ICD-10 code C50. We estimated cause-specific hazard ratios (HR) for the relationship between each individual exposure and pre and postmenopausal breast cancer risk, using linear and non-linear models. RESULTS: Of the 1,054,180 pre and 744,658 postmenopausal women followed for a median of 10 years, 6,126 and 17,858 developed breast cancer, respectively. Among premenopausal women, only very high levels of PM10 (≥46 µg/m3) were associated with increased cancer risk (compared to lower levels) in non-linear models. Among postmenopausal women, an interquartile range increase in PM2.5 (HR:1.03; 95%CI:1.01-1.04), PM10 (1.03; 1.01-1.05), and NO2 (1.05; 1.02-1.08) were associated with higher cancer risk. NDVI was negatively associated with decreased cancer risk only among postmenopausal women who did not change residence during follow-up (0.84; 0.71-0.99) or who were followed for at least three years (0.82; 0.69-0.98). DISCUSSION: Living in areas with high concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 increases breast cancer risk in postmenopausal women while long-term exposure to green spaces may decrease this risk. Only very high concentrations of PM10 increase breast cancer risk in premenopausal women.

The triglycerides and glucose index is strongly associated with hepatic steatosis in children with overweight or obesity.

Given the worldwide increase prevalence of overweight, obesity, and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the objective of this study was to evaluate whether the triglycerides and glucose (TyG) index is associated with hepatic steatosis in children with overweight or obesity. Apparently healthy children aged 5­17 years were included and allocated into the groups with and without hepatic steatosis. The TyG index was calculated as Ln [fasting triglycerides (mg/dL) × fasting glucose (mg/dL)]/2. Hepatic steatosis was diagnosed by ultrasonography. A total of 177 children, 66 (37.3%) girls and 111 (62.7%) boys, were included in the study. According to the hepatic ultrasonography, they were allocated into the groups with (n = 100) and without (n = 77) hepatic steatosis. The adjusted analysis by gender, body mass index, and waist circumference revealed that HDL-C (OR 0.96; 95% CI: 0.93-0.99), triglycerides (OR 1.005; 95% CI: 1.001-1.009), AST (OR 1.03; 95% CI: 1.008-1.07), ALT (OR 1.03; 95% CI: 1.01-1.05), and TyG index (OR 4.07; 95% CI: 1.26-13.15) remained associated with hepatic steatosis.Conclusion: Compared to other biochemical markers, the TyG index is highly associated with the presence of fatty liver in children with overweight and obesity. What is known: • The triglycerides and glucose (TyG) index is effective in predicting high risk for incident nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in adults. What is new: • Compared to other biochemical markers, the TyG index is highly associated with the presence of fatty liver in children with overweight or obesity. • The triglycerides and glucose index may be a useful tool to detect children at high risk of fatty liver.

H3K27M-mutant glioma in thoracic spinal cord and conus medullaris with pilocytic astrocytoma morphology: case report and review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: The H3K27M-mutant spinal cord gliomas are very aggressive with a dismal prognosis, very few cases have been reported in the thoracic spinal cord and conus medullaris, and it is extremely rare with morphological features of pilocytic astrocytoma. CASE PRESENTATION: A 20-year-old man presented with thoracolumbar pain, progressive paraparesis, and urinary incontinence. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed an intramedullary solid-cystic lesion from D9 to conus medullaris. Subtotal resection was performed, restricted by the indistinct margins and the decline of the motor evoked potential during the surgery. Pathologic findings revealed a pilocytic astrocytoma with anaplastic features. However, a further assessment determined a diffuse midline glioma H3K27M-mutant, and adjuvant chemoradiotherapy was administered. After seven months of progression-free survival, the paraparesis worsened; at twelve months of follow-up, the patient developed paraplegia, and at 24 months the patient remains alive without any neurologic functions distal to the tumor and he is still under adjuvant treatment. CONCLUSIONS: The H3K27M-mutant spinal cord glioma is a very infrequent tumor with a wide variety of histological presentations even as indolent as pilocytic astrocytoma, which should be considered in spinal cord tumors, especially if there are clinical, histological, or radiological data that suggest aggressiveness. On the other hand, the fast progression led to the loss of complete neurological function distal to the tumor, in spinal tumors could explain a not so poor prognosis as it is in functionally and vital structures.

Can productivity growth measures identify best performing hospitals? Evidence from the English National Health Service.

Health-care systems around the world face limited financial resources, and England is no exception. The ability of the health-care system in England to operate within its financial resources depends in part on continually increasing its productivity. One means of achieving this is to identify and disseminate throughout the system the most efficient processes. We examine the annual productivity growth achieved by 151 hospitals over five financial years, using the same methods developed to measure productivity of the National Health Service as a whole. We consider whether there are hospitals that consistently achieve higher than average productivity growth. These could act as examples of good practice for others to follow and provide a means of increasing system performance. We find that the productivity growth of some hospitals over the whole period exhibits better than average performance, but there is little or no evidence of consistency in the performance of these hospitals over adjacent years. Even the best performers exhibit periods of very poor performance and vice versa. We therefore conclude that accepted methods of measuring productivity growth for the health system as a whole do not appear suitable for identifying good performance at the hospital level.

Prospective payment systems and discretionary coding-Evidence from English mental health providers.

Reimbursement of English mental health hospitals is moving away from block contracts and towards activity and outcome-based payments. Under the new model, patients are categorised into 20 groups with similar levels of need, called clusters, to which prices may be assigned prospectively. Clinicians, who make clustering decisions, have substantial discretion and can, in principle, directly influence the level of reimbursement the hospital receives. This may create incentives for upcoding. Clinicians are supported in their allocation decision by a clinical clustering algorithm, the Mental Health Clustering Tool, which provides an external reference against which clustering behaviour can be benchmarked. The aims of this study are to investigate the degree of mismatch between predicted and actual clustering and to test whether there are systematic differences amongst providers in their clustering behaviour. We use administrative data for all mental health patients in England who were clustered for the first time during the financial year 2014/15 and estimate multinomial multilevel models of over, under, or matching clustering. Results suggest that hospitals vary systematically in their probability of mismatch but this variation is not consistently associated with observed hospital characteristics.

Pneumococcal vaccination coverages by age, sex and specific underlying risk conditions among middle-aged and older adults in Catalonia, Spain, 2017.

BackgroundRecent published data on pneumococcal vaccination coverages among adults are scarce.AimTo update on pneumococcal vaccination uptakes among middle-aged and older adults in Catalonia.MethodsWe conducted a population-based retrospective observational study including 2,057,656 individuals ≥ 50 years old assigned to primary care centres managed by the Catalonian Health Institute on 1 January 2017 (date of data collection). An institutional clinical research database (SIDIAP) was used to classify persons by vaccination status for both 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide (PPsV23) and 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate (PCV13) vaccines, as well as to identify underlying risk conditions.ResultsOverall, 796,879 individuals (38.7%) had received PPsV23 and 13,607 (0.7%) PCV13. PPsV23 coverage increased with age: 9.2% (95,409/1,039,872) in 50-64 year olds, 63.1% (434,408/688,786) in 65-79 year olds and 81.2% (267,062/328,998) in ≥ 80 year olds (p < 0.001). PCV13 coverage also increased with age, although percentages were smaller in all age strata (4,250/1,039,872: 0.4%; 6,005/688,786: 0.9% and 3,352/328,998: 1.0%, respectively; p < 0.001). By sex, no substantial coverage differences were observed. Considering publically funded target groups for PPsV23 vaccination in Catalonia (i.e. < 65 year olds with at least one risk factor, plus all adults aged ≥ 65 years), PPsV23 coverage reached 52.8% (771,722/1,462,261) in our study population. Regarding PCV13 publicly funded targets (i.e. all-age immunocompromised persons), PCV13 coverage was 3.3% (6,617/202,348). By risk conditions, the highest PPsV23 coverage appeared in congestive heart failure (51,909/63,596; 81.6%), chronic renal disease (122,791/158,726; 77.4%) and chronic bronchitis/emphysema (96,453/132,306; 72.9%). Maximum PCV13 coverage appeared in cirrhosis (294/7,957; 3.7%), chronic renal disease (5,633/158,726; 3.5%) and chronic bronchitis/emphysema (2,859/132,306; 2.2%).ConclusionPneumococcal vaccination coverages in Catalonian adults are suboptimal, especially for PCV13.

Drying Effects on Phenolics and Free Radical-Scavenging Capacity of Rhus pachyrrhachis and Rhus virens Used in Traditional Medicine.

Rhus pachyrrhachis and Rhus virens are medicinal plant species with important uses in northeastern Mexico. They belong to a complex of Rhus species called "lantriscos", which are used for medicinal applications. The medicinal effects of these species are based on traditional use, however, they require phytochemical research to validate their medicinal properties, as well as structural characterization for their correct identification during the collecting practice and uses. The phytochemical potential of aqueous extracts from R. pachyrrhachis and R. virens was analyzed by the quantification of total phenolic content (TPC), free radical-scavenging potential, and total flavonoids, with a comparison of four drying methods, and some phenolic compounds were identified. Furthermore, the stems and leaves of both species were anatomically characterized to establish a differentiation. R. pachyrrhachis and R. virens showed similar values of phytochemical contents, although the TPC content (0.17 mg of gallic acid equivalent per gram of dry weight, GAE/g DW) was higher in R. virens. The drying method used affected the metabolite contents, and this behavior was related to the species. Regarding the phenolic compounds, shikimic acid, galloylquinic acid, and gallic acid were identified in both species, however, quinic acid was only found in Rhus pachyrrhachis, while vanillic acid O-hexoside was identified only in Rhus virens. At the anatomical level, the pubescence associated with trichomes on the leaves of Rhus pachyrrhachis was highlighted as the main differential characteristic.

Evaluating clinical effectiveness of 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccination against pneumonia among middle-aged and older adults in Catalonia: results from the EPIVAC cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Benefits using the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) in adults are controversial. This study investigated clinical effectiveness of PCV13 vaccination in preventing hospitalisation from pneumonia among middle-aged and older adults. METHODS: Population-based cohort study involving 2,025,730 individuals ≥50 years in Catalonia, Spain, who were prospectively followed from 01/01/2015 to 31/12/2015. Primary outcomes were hospitalisation for pneumococcal or all-cause pneumonia and death from any cause. Cox regression models were used to evaluate the association between PCV13 vaccination and the risk of each outcome, adjusting for age, sex and major comorbidities/underlying risk conditions. RESULTS: Cohort members were observed for a total of 1,990,701 person-years, of which 6912 person-years were PCV13 vaccinated. Overall, crude incidence rates (per 100,000 person-years) were 82.8 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 77.7-88.1) for pneumococcal pneumonia, 637.9 (95% CI: 599.0-678.7) for all-cause pneumonia and 2367.2 (95% CI: 2222.8-2518.7) for all-cause death. After multivariable adjustments we found that the PCV13 vaccination did not alter significantly the risk of pneumococcal pneumonia (multivariable-adjusted hazard ratio [mHR]: 1.17; 95% CI: 0.75-1.83; p = 0.493) and all-cause death (mHR: 1.07; 95% CI: 0.97-1.18; p = 0.190), although it remained significantly associated with an increased risk of all-cause pneumonia (mHR: 1.69; 95% CI: 1.48-1.94; p < 0.001). In stratified analyses focused on middle-aged or elderly persons and immunocompromised or immunocompetent subjects, PCV13 vaccination did not appear effective either. CONCLUSION: Our data does not support clinical benefits of PCV13 vaccination against pneumonia among adults in Catalonia. It must be closely monitored in future studies involving more vaccinated person-time at-observation.

IMPACT Score for Traumatic Brain Injury: Validation of the Prognostic Tool in a Spanish Cohort.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this work was to validate the IMPACT (International Mission for Prognosis and Analysis of Clinical Trials in TBI) model in a Spanish cohort of patients with moderate-severe TBI (traumatic brain injury). SETTING: Two level I neurotrauma centers. PARTICIPANTS: Patients admitted to these hospitals between 2011 and 2014 with a diagnosis of TBI and a Glasgow Coma Scale score of 12 or less. DESIGN: Prospective observational study. MAIN MEASURES: We collected prospectively the clinical variables included in the IMPACT models. Outcome evaluation was prospectively done at 6-month follow-up according to the Glasgow Outcome Scale. RESULTS: A total of 290 patients were included in the study. Forty-seven patients (16.2%) died within 6 months post-TBI, and 74 patients (25.5%) had an unfavorable outcome. The Hosmer-Lemeshow test revealed that there was no difference between observed and predicted outcomes; hence, the 3 models displayed adequate calibration for predicting 6-month mortality or unfavorable outcome. The receiver operating characteristic curve indicated that the 3 models (Core, Extended, and Lab) could accurately discriminate between favorable and unfavorable outcomes, as well as between survival and mortality (P < .001). CONCLUSION: The IMPACT model validates prediction of 6-month outcomes in a Spanish population of moderate-severe TBI. IMPACT Lab model is the one that presents a higher discriminative capacity. These results encourage the implementation of the IMPACT model as a prognostic tool in the management of patients with TBI.

Validation of S100B use in a cohort of Spanish patients with mild traumatic brain injury: a multicentre study.

INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to validate the S100B protein as a diagnostic tool for ruling out the presence of intracranial lesion (IL) after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Subjects with a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of 15 and at least one neurological symptom post-trauma were selected from a large Spanish cohort. METHODS: A number of 260 patients with mTBI were enrolled. Blood samples were extracted within 6 h and CT scan performed within 24 h post-injury. Blood samples were also drawn from 18 healthy subjects. RESULTS: CT scan revealed the presence of IL in 22 patients (8.5%). Patients with mTBI had higher S100B serum levels (p = 0.008) than the healthy subjects (p < 0.001). The ROC analysis of S100B discriminated between patients with and without IL (AUC: 0.671; 95%CI: 0.574-0.769; p = 0.008). The multivariate analysis identified male gender (OR: 5.39; 95%CI: 1.45-20.10; p = 0.012), age > 65 (OR: 2.97; 95%CI: 1.04-8.44; p = 0.041) and S100B level >0.10 µg/L (OR: 7.93; 95%CI: 1.03-60.76; p = 0.046) as independent risk factors for IL in patients with mTBI. CONCLUSION: Measurement of S100B within 6 h of mTBI accurately predicts risk of IL in patients with a GCS score of 15 and at least one neurological symptom.

[Antipneumococcal vaccination in Catalonian adults: Vaccine coverages and adequacy to distinct guideline recommendations]. / Vacunación antineumocócica en adultos de Cataluña: coberturas y grado de adecuación a distintas guías de recomendaciones.

OBJECTIVES: To know antipneumococcal vaccination coverages among Catalonian adults and evaluate the adequacy of vaccine use according to 3 distinct current vaccination guidelines. DESIGN: Population-based cross-sectional study. SETTING: Primary Health Care. Catalonia, Spain. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 2,033,465 individuals≥50 years-old registered in the Catalonian Health Institute. MAIN MEASUREMENTS: Vaccination status for the 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV23) and/or the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) was revised at 1/01/2015. Adequacy of vaccination status was determined according to 3 distinct vaccination recommendation guidelines: Spanish Ministry of Health (basically coinciding with Catalonian Health Institute's recommendations), Spanish Society of Family Physicians (semFYC) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). RESULTS: Overall, 789,098 (38.8%) persons had received PPV23 and 5,031 (0.2%) had received PCV13. PPV23 coverage largely increased with increasing age (4.8% in 50-59 years, 35.5% in 60-69 years, 71.9% in 70-79 years and 79.5% in≥80 years; P<.001), whereas PCV13 coverage was very small in all age groups. Considering the 3 analysed vaccine guidelines a 46.1% of the overall study population were adequacy vaccinated according to Spanish Ministry's recommendations, 19.3% according to semFYC's recommendations and 4.6% according to CDC's recommendations. CONCLUSION: PPV23 coverage among Catalonian adults may be considered as intermediate, but PCV13 coverage is very small. The institutional recommendations (Spanish Ministry) are more followed than corporative (semFYC) or less local (CDC) recommendations in clinical practice.

Induced Rate Performance Enhancement in Off-Stoichiometric Na3+3x V2-x (PO4 )3 with Potential Applicability as the Cathode for Sodium-Ion Batteries.

Off-stoichiometric Na3+3x V2-x (PO4 )3 samples have been prepared by a sol-gel route. X-ray diffraction and XPS revealed the flexibility of the NASICON framework to accommodate these deviations of the stoichiometry; at least for low x values. X-ray photoelectron spectra evidenced the presence of Na4 P2 O7 impurities. The synergic combination of the structural deviations and the presence of Na4 P2 O7 impurities induce a significant improvement of the electrochemical performance and cycling stability at high rates, as compared to the stoichiometric Na3 V2 (PO4 )3 sample. The fast kinetic response provided by the induced off-stoichiometry involves a decrease of the cell resistance.

Insight into the Electrochemical Sodium Insertion of Vanadium Superstoichiometric NASICON Phosphate.

A slight deviation of the stoichiometry has been introduced in Na3-3xV2+x(PO4)3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.1) samples to determine the effect on the structural and electrochemical behavior as a positive electrode in sodium-ion batteries. X-ray diffraction and XPS results provide evidence for the flexibility of the NASICON framework to allow a limited vanadium superstoichiometry. In particular, the Na2.94V2.02(PO4)3 formula reveals the best electrochemical performance at the highest rate (40C) and capacity retention upon long cycling. It is attributed to the excellent kinetic response and interphase chemical stability upon cycling. The electrochemical performance of this vanadium superstoichiometric sample in a full sodium-ion cell is also described.

[Spinal sinovial cysts: Surgical treatment and clinical outcomes in a series of 18 cases]. / Quistes articulares espinales: evolución clínica y resultados según intervención quirúrgica. Revisión de 18 casos.

OBJECT: A series of 18 patients with symptomatic synovial cysts was analysed from May 2009 to November 2013. Different approaches were performed for their removal. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study included 18 patients, 8 men and 10 women, aged between 50 and 77 years. An analysis was made of the variables including age, gender, symptoms, imaging studies, histopathology, surgery, follow-up, complications, and clinical outcome. RESULTS: An articular synovial cyst was diagnosed in 17 cases, and a ganglion in one cases. The most common symptom was back pain with radiculopathy (94%). Motor deficits occurred in 4 cases (22%), and 1 case (5%) presented with urinary incontinence. The most common level was L4- L5 (67%), with one atypical case observed in the D12 -L1 location. Hemi-laminectomy was performed in 14 cases, with 9 of them having an interspinous spacer (ISP) device inserted. A laminectomy with a fusion procedure was performed in 3 patients and 1 patient had a bilateral decompression using a unilateral approach. The patients were followed-up for between 6 months to 2 years. CONCLUSIONS: Synovial cysts are a cause of radiculopathy/neurogenic claudication. Spinal cysts are commonly found at the L4-L5 level. MRI is the tool of choice for diagnosis. The most common symptom was back pain with radiculopathy. Synovial cysts resistant to conservative therapy should be treated surgically. In our series, surgical resection of symptomatic juxtafacet cysts showed a good clinical outcome, but the optimal approach for patients with juxtafacet cysts remains unclear.